Art for Heart's Sake

An Update on Tuesday!

Hi there, it's late Thursday morning and I'm just back from having my hair trimmed.  Yesterday I fully intended to post again, telling you about our trip to the beach on Tuesday but I didn't get a chance.  After three hours of very hot! gardening we had lunch and then headed out to do the grocery shopping.

We had a lovely time at the beach.  John got home around 11.30am and we were at the beach close to 12pm.  I leapt straight into the sea - the tide was high and it was DIVINE!  I started off taking my body board out but then came back in to shore to leave it behind.  I'm not really a mad sea swimmer and my shoulder is stopping me from doing my favourite stroke, backstroke but I did manage to do some breaststroke and a little bit of freestyle which I'm sure was good for my shoulder.  After lunch John came in for a swim too which was lovely.  Caroline (neighbour) joined us at about 1.30pm and before we knew it it was almost 2.30pm and we decided to come home.  I think we were both feeling pretty sunbaked even with copious amounts of sunblock on.  I also built a sandcastle - one is NEVER too old to do this in my eyes.

I'm off to the beach again in about 30mins time.  It is far too hot to be able to garden so the best place for me is under a sun umbrella on the beach.  I don't really like going by myself because I have to take my glasses off to go swimming and this means I can't really see if anyone is ransacking my things (not that anyone would, after all we're all in the same boat on the beach with carkeys in our bags).  I will take a chance today though and just do it. 

Late yesterday (6.20pm) the temp hit 35.1 degrees C which is just plain ridiculous - too too too hot!  Rain is forecast on Monday and I truly hope it happens.  The fire danger throughout New Zealand is reaching extreme levels and there have been fires around the Auckland region which is more or less unheard of.   Today is supposed to be even hotter.  Ugh...  off to the beach I go, I just need to make some lunch.  Smiles..

Gardening and Grocery Shopping!

Hi, just a quick post again today because I am flying out the door to garden at Ken's property.  I'm not looking forward to it at all today because it is just horrid trying to garden in hot weather.  It's meant to reach 27 degrees C in Nelson today which means at least 5 degrees hotter, if not more, where we are.  The garden I need to work on is also in blinding full sun and I'm just not sure I will survive.  I've already decided if I start to really struggle I'll just have to give up for the day.  I might be able to do some more deadheading in a shady area if that's okay with Ken.  I'll just see how I go.

This pm we are grocery shopping so no beach visit today.. boo hoo!  Hopefully we can go tomorrow.  Smiles..

Another Beachy Kind of Day!

Hi, it's 9.10am - I've had my breakfast, the washing machine is going and I DON'T NEED TO WALK THE DOG - THANK YOU JOHN HONEY!!  Sometimes the rush I end up in so I can get Chester walked before it gets too hot is ridiculous.  It's lovely to be able to methodically do my usual morning animal tasks etc without going at 100mph.  John walked Chester before he went to work this morning because he wasn't starting until 8.30am.

It's another beachy kind of day here today - a glorious morning which promises to end in a very hot late afternoon.  Yesterday the temp reached 34.1 degrees, oh groan.  That is just far too hot to be able to do ANYTHING.  We are heading to the beach around lunchtime today.  Hopefully J will be home around 11.30am or so, otherwise we won't be going until a bit later.  High tide is at 12.30pm and I love being there around 45mins before that because swimming is just lovely then.

I'm off to hop around watering outside.  Rain is predicted for next Monday.. oh I truly hope so!  Until then it's hot, hot, hot!  Smiles.. 

Yikes I'm late Again.. Because....

... I've been swimming at Rabbit Island again!  I got home from walking the dog around 10am and was about to start watering my plant nursery when my neighbour rang to see what time I'd like to go to the beach.  We headed off around 10.50am and got back at about 1.15pm.  It was so lovely on the beach this morning - almost no breeze, wall to wall blue sky (AGAIN!!) and brilliant sunshine.  The water was a bit churned up near the shore because it was quite a high tide around midday but it was still lovely. 

Unfortunately there weren't any waves at all but I still floated around on my body board anyway.  I can't really do ''real'' swimming at the moment because of my left shoulder.  My favourite stroke is backstroke and there is no way my left shoulder will do that action.  I'm going through a bit of a gnarly patch with it again and can only put that down to the gardening I am doing at Ken's place.  It is a lot harder than just weeding here.

We are aiming to go to the beach again tomorrow.  This gorgeous weather (she said trying really hard to stay positive about the garden!!) is set to remain for another 6 days at least and temps are going up each day.  As I'm typing this it is 31 degrees C and the sun is far too intense to be out in it.  New Zealand sun is so strong it can burn you in 4 minutes flat, if not less!  Click on this link to see a few images of this wonderful beach that is only 5 minutes down the road!  No dogs are allowed on it but horses are exercised and can swim at one end of it (obviously we don't swim at that end, ewww giggle).

Images of Rabbit Island

Yikes I just realise there is a rather risque one in there!  Yikes...!!

John got home from his son's stag party weekend late yesterday and it sounds as though they had a typical stag night in every way.  David had a great time so that's the main thing.

I'm about to head out to my studio to finish that birthday present I'm working on for last Tuesday.. giggle.  Smiles..

Gardening Makes Me Happy!

Hi there, it's Sunday morning and I've already been out in the garden for 30 minutes or so.  I've stopped for a much needed cup of tea because it is already getting hot out there.  One of the things I love the most about my perennial and woodland gardens is I can always find a shady spot to garden in no matter what time of day it is.  At the moment I'm working on the back of the main perennial bed which is being nicely shaded by the fruit trees that are incorporated into it.  I am dead-heading my hardy geraniums as I go and tossing around seeds of love-in-the-mist (Nigella) too, from the many seed-heads I have in the garden.

I spent the rest of yesterday watering and I also spent some time in my studio too, working on a birthday present for my dear friend, Lyn.  Her birthday was last Tuesday and I've realised this project is taking me longer than I thought.  Oh dear!!! 

I'm going to spend some more time in the garden this morning, then Morgan is coming round (a neighbour's daughter who is really good at art) to give me some feedback on the ''mountain and sky'' canvas I've been working on.  It needs something, perhaps a sunset, but I'm not sure where to start!  Eeeeek!!  Apart from that I need to dust and vacuum the house REALLY badly! 

John will be home from Queenstown (son's stag party) late this pm and I want the house to look better than it does right now!!  Cleaning at Ken's has meant I don't feel like cleaning here at all, pookies.  One good thing, his sister is coming out from the UK for the month of February so this coming Friday will be my last cleaning day for a month.  I'll do extra gardening instead.  Speaking of gardening the temp is going to be close to 30 degrees C on Wed (not quite 100 degrees F) and I am NOT looking forward to gardening in it.  Aaaaggghhhh.... icepacks around my neck maybe??  Giggle..

I'd dearly love to be back at the beach around high tide (11.20am) today but it's too hard for me to go by myself.  I have to take my glasses off to go into the sea and I can't see a darned thing really - just blurry images - so I can't watch my bag of tricks (car keys etc) when I'm out in the water.  Bother, bother, bother as REALLY want to go!!

I must fly and get back out to the garden while it's still relatively cool-ish!!!  Smiles..

Lovely Morning at the Beach!

Hi, so sorry this is late today.  I spent the morning on the beach with my neighbour and good friend, Caroline.  I had two gorgeous dips in the sea and managed to catch about 20 waves on my body board.  Rabbit Island is not renowned for its surf but even though the waves were small I managed to get a couple of really fast rides right into the beach.  So much fun! 

John is at his son's stag party which is being held in Queenstown (2 flights away from here).  He let me know he'd arrived safely and sent me a photo of his 27 year old son wearing.. ermmmm a very short cow costume!  Crikey, the mind boggles.  Somehow I don't think I'll hear from John again until the morning!  Giggle..  David is in the wine industry and has worked in quite a lot of wineries in the Central Otago/Queenstown area so I imagine they will be doing a major winery crawl amongst other activities.  Rather them than me is all I can say!

I am going to spend the rest of the afternoon in my studio - after I've watered my plant nursery that is.  I ran out of time to do it before the day got hot.  Monty is back outside after doing a fairly normal ''you know what'' in his litter box.  I couldn't bear to keep him inside any longer, he was pacing around the place, poor lad!  I must go and get watering.  More tomorrow.. Big smiles...

Just had to post this.. click on the 10 day forecast... oh my word, I'm depressed!! Giggle... 10 days of fine, hot weather.. what is the weather thinking!!!

http://www.metservice.com/towns-cities/nelson

Monty has been to the vet today, he had an upset tummy early this morning (both ends) and had a temp when the vet checked it. He's had an anti-inflammatory/anti-nausea injection and a long acting antibiotic injection. They aren't sure what it is. If no better early next week, a blood test for pancreatitis might be needed (ugh re $$). Finger's crossed he comes right! Poor Monty! More tomorrow...

Monty's Eye & Nose!

Hi, it's Friday morning and I'm about to rush out the door to become ''Mrs Mop'' at Ken's house.  I will be cleaning his house for about four hours again I think.  I am helping him out re having his house on the market.  He gets VERY flustered really easily so if I'm helping at all I guess that's good (even if it's not ''my thing'' - eeeek).

Yesterday I took a couple of cute photos of Monty's eye and nose.  I couldn't resist!  He was lying on the dining room table while I was typing my blog post (don't worry I'll wipe it before we eat at it, ewwwww) and I just had to capture him.  For some reason I wanted a photo of his eye and nose, don't ask me why! 

I must fly out the door.. wish me luck (concentrating on thoroughly cleaning 2 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms then general dusting, vacuuming and washing tile floors of big living/kitchen area).  Sigh.  Smiles..

A Happy Surprise!

Hi, I got a lovely surprise a couple of weeks ago, on the edge of the woodland garden.  Here was a sunflower forming buds!  I feed the greenfinches sunflower seeds that I buy in a big bag from the supermarket.  Somehow one of them must have been blown down into the garden and here she is:

Every year I mean to plant sunflowers but I hardly ever get round to it!  I must try to remedy that this Spring.  They are such happy flowers and she looks so beautiful on the edge of my shady woodland garden.  It just goes to show that sunflowers will also flower well in partial shade.  She would have been quite tall but the wind knocked her sideways a bit so she is more horizontal than vertical!

Yesterday I had a hard job gardening at Ken's place.  It was SO humid that after 45 minutes I was literally dragging my feet along the ground.  Ugh, I didn't enjoy one second of those three hours unfortunately.  By the time we went grocery shopping around 2pm I was certifiably grumpy because of the heat.  It's humid again today and I'm spending a lot of time watering.  We did have a short shower of rain (ah bliss) yesterday evening and more showers are predicted for the ranges (not necessarily reaching us) this pm.  I certainly hope so - it's already 30 degrees C and it's only 10.50am!  I'm taking a break from watering and enjoying a much needed cup of tea.

I'm hoping to work on the canvas I am doing for a dear friend.  It was her birthday on Tuesday so my gift will be about a week late I fear!  Oh dear!!  Time to get back outside - I need to water the tomatoes in my kitchen garden.  Smiles..

A Quick Post!

Hi, this is just a very quick post this morning because I am rushing out the door to walk the dog and then heading to Ken's to do 3 hours garden, home for quick lunch and off out to go grocery shopping - phew I'm exhausted just typing this!  Giggle.  I'll post more later.    Have a great day/night wherever you are!  Smiles..